Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity is often held up as the gold standard of the modern Christian apologetic. I suspect this text will always hold a place of esteem. It captures certain thoughts and cases so well. Lewis finds a good balance between erudition and genuine feeling. It is not overly academic, but it follows academic rules. The questions around Christianity haven't changed, but Lewis' style and what he specifically addresses is dated. For example, he defaults to the masculine when discussing all of humanity and his portrayals of women aren't stellar. I think this comes across more as a product of his era rather than as a product of Christianity itself. Where Lewis falls short, it is his own fault and the fault of the society he lived in rather than insurmountable facet of his convictions. He never links to the two consciously. He doesn't even attach the objectionable views common to his time to his arguments. I'd recommend that if someone was exploring this genre, definitely read Mere Christianity, but also explore other authors.

I'd always heard this touted as one of the classics of Christian apologetics, and that was what I was really looking to it for. In that regard it was disappointing. The first section of the book puts forth some arguments. Lewis's argument regarding natural law is not entirely convincing, but I can't bring myself to dismiss it entirely, and it needs more consideration than it's given here. Lewis's trilemma regarding Jesus (that he was either inanse, a bad man, or god), is obviously a false trilemma, and even if there were no other options Lewiss discards the other two options for no real reason. After this point there are no arguments to speak of: just assertions. Which is fine--the goal of the book is, I suppose, to describe Christianity rather than to argue for it. The assertions are clear and often thought-provking (although just as often racist, homophobic, and especially sexist) but ultimately not especially useful for the purpose that I personally wanted the book to serve. Lewis is a good writer but this book offers me very little.